Eric Stoner ("a writer based in New York, whose writings have appeared in many publications, including The Nation") and Bryan Farrell ("a researcher for Rolling Stone and an independent journalist in New York") offer "Fear and Loathing on the Jersey Shore". The (presumed) couple went abroad (i.e., left Manhattan) and spent a weekend in in the sticks:

Down on the boardwalk we observed a scene that would be recognizable to most Americans: teenagers, junk food, and trinket shops selling an assortment of "ironic" t-shirts. It's not unlike a shopping mall or arcade, pandering to a gluttonous consumerism that is all too distinctly American.

It goes on like that. And, I don't think it's a satire, nor do I think it was intentionally meant as a GOP recruiting tool. It just reads like it. I congratulate Arianna on returning to her roots.